A SAFETY system which could have avoided the Paddington rail disaster has been fitted on all Thames Trains six weeks ahead of schedule.

But the Train Protection and Warning System (TPWS) will not work in the two miles outside Paddington until later this year because equipment also needs to be fitted to tracks and signals to make it operable.

The warning system uses an ‘overspeed sensor' in the track which will cut off the engine power and apply the brakes on a train if it is approaching a red signal too quickly.

The driver can release the brakes if the signal clears. A second ‘train stop sensor' - also built into the track - will stop the train if the signal is at red under any circumstances.

The system is currently working on Thames Trains routes to Bristol, Basingstoke, Oxford and Gatwick airport, because track equipment has been fitted at signal points in those areas. It will not work on the route out of London to Reading because Railtrack has not yet fitted the vital track and signal equipment.

However, Railtrack has assured Thames Trains it is committed to fitting TPWS to the line outside Paddington by October.

Thames Trains is the second train company in Britain to have its entire fleet of 62 trains fitted with the new system, which was endorsed by Lord Cullen in his report into the disaster, published in June.

Terry Worrall, director and general manager of Thames Trains, said: "I am very pleased that we have completed fitting TPWS equipment to all our trains ahead of schedule.

"It is a proven system that is reliable and will provide real safety benefits now."

If TPWS had been fitted in October 1999, at the time of the Ladbroke Grove crash which killed 31 people, the Thames Train travelling out of Paddington would not have been able to pass red signal 109 and may not have hit the First Great Western train travelling in the opposite direction.

But crash survivor Tony Knox has called on Thames Trains to "stop boasting" until all parts of the system are working and it is protecting passengers.

He said: "It is dishonest in the extreme for Thames Trains to be crowing about fitting train protection when it doesn't work until it's fitted to the rails. They should be keeping quiet.

"They have no right to be boasting given the fact they killed 31 people.

"It's a sick joke. It's two years too late."

Martin Walter, a Thames Trains spokesman, said the company was not boasting because the task of fitting TWPS was enormous.

"It is a big system and it cannot be installed overnight. Thames Trains has done a good job and this is a good news story."